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Vacancy – Constitution Building Programme

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance — International IDEA is an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. Its objective is to strengthen democratic institutions and processes. International IDEA acts as a catalyst for democracy building by providing knowledge resources, policy proposals and supporting democratic reforms in response to specific national requests. It works together with policy makers, governments, UN organizations and agencies and regional organizations engaged in the field of democracy building. 

International IDEA’s notable areas of expertise are: electoral processes, political parties, constitution-building processes, democracy and gender and democracy assessments. International IDEA works worldwide. It is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has offices in Brussels, New York, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Associate Programme Officer - The Hague

Location: The Hague

Salary: NET EUR 2800/month

Preferred starting date: as soon as possible (by January 2016)

Application deadline: 13 October 2015 

Send application  

Context:

  • The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democratic change by providing comparative knowledge and assisting in democratic reform worldwide.
  • Based in The Hague, IDEA’s Constitution Building Processes (CBP) Programme raises awareness of the role of constitution-building processes in managing conflict and consolidating democracy.
  • One of CBP’s flagship projects is ConstitutionNet, an online information portal that is specialized in supporting legislators, constitutional lawyers and practitioners through providing the latest and most relevant information, knowledge resources and good practices on constitutional change around the world. The site hosts over 4,000 pieces of news, analyses and resources as well as its original ConstitutionNet analyses on constitutionally relevant developments as they unfold on the ground. 
  • The ConstitutionNet Editor is responsible for driving content generation, content promotion, innovation and technical support for ConstitutionNet.

 Duties and Responsibilities

  • Generates quality content for ConstitutionNet in an even and timely manner;
  • Actively promotes ConstitutionNet and CBP knowledge resources and announcements,and leads related digital marketing campaigns;
  • Drives innovation and technical support for the site;
  • Builds,manages and coordinates a global network of constitutional scholars and practitioners.

Content Generation

ConstitutionNet hosts the latest knowledge resources relevant to constitutional change around the world. It regularly features original analyses in its Voices from the Field articles; and it hosts relevant news articles and resources from around the web.

 Voices from the Field: in the weekly Voices from the Field articles, local experts analyze constitutionally relevant developments as they unfold in their home countries for the global constitution building community. The ConstitutionNet Editor:

  • Spots issues and proposes topics to be covered in VFTF articles;
  • Identifies,contacts and commissions local authors to author analyses from the field;
  • Shapes content to ensure the topicality and high quality of the articles,including through commenting on the outline, first and revised drafts;
  • Proofreads the final drafts prior to publication;
  • Publishes at least one new VFTF article each week to ensure even content generation throughout the month;
  • Establishes and maintains a content generation calendar.

News Review: ConstitutionNet follows nearly all ongoing constitution building processes around the world and informs its readers about related news on a daily basis. The ConstitutionNet Editor:

 Reviews news articles and analyses relevant to constitution building on a daily basis using the google alert/feedly/evernote monitoring system;

  • Identifies relevant articles for the daily ConstitutionNet news selection.

Newsletter: The monthly ConstitutionNet Newsletter features all VFTF articles, new IDEA publications, IDEA event announcements, newly uploaded documents and new members of the ConstitutionNet expert roster. The ConstitutionNet Editor:

  • Develops and updates daily the Newsletter content template with the latest VFTF articles, news items, library items, member registrations etc.;
  • Publishes the monthly newsletter before the end of each month in coordination with the Technical Manager for ConstitutionNet.

Country profiles: ConstitutionNet features comprehensive overviews of the constitutional history of countries with recent or ongoing constitutional reform processes, including the timeline, issues and challenges and key documents. The ConstitutionNet Editor:

  • Expands the countries covered in the country profile section of the site and ensures the regular update of each profile;
  • Commissions, directs, reviews, comments on and proofreads relevant research, incl. content, structure, references, language;
  • Coordinates and supervises consultants.

Content Promotion

ConstitutionNet currently has over 20,000 readers per month and growing. In order to increase the number of its readers and to promote its original content and brand, continuous promotion of IDEA knowledge resources is needed along with separate campaigns prior to major events of publications. The ConstitutionNet Editor:

  • Disseminates and promotes VFTF articles, news items and IDEA announcements using various social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn);
  • Sets up and maintains a ConstitutionNet dissemination calendar;
  • Manages and coordinates digital marketing consultants.

 ConstitutionNet Innovations

Innovations on ConstitutionNet’s are ongoing. In the past two years, both the site’s design and its content was reformed and its readership has grown from 2,000 to over 20,000 per month. As the next step of the reform process, we aim at introducing interactive features to the site, among others, through hosting online courses, and creating thematic sections to facilitate the engagement of the readers. The ConstitutionNet Editor:

  • Takes  initiative to make ConstitutionNet an even more informative and accessible site through proposing a variety of changes, including ways to introduce interactive features with the view of expanding the site’s reach (target audience: policy-makers, civil society, experts from related fields, academia).

 Technical and Administrative Support

Technical tasks are carried out by ConstitutionNet’s Technical Manager, some of the administrative tasks by the Finance and Administrative Officer, and further tasks might be outsourced to consultants. The ConstitutionNet Editor: 

  • Uploads VFTF analyses, news articles, documents, publications, announcements and other content onto ConstitutionNet according to the criteria set in the relevant Guide;
  • Ensures that all content is tailored to promotion purposes, including through selection of suitable cover images and SEO optimization of the content;
  • Manages the procurement of contributors and service providers, including through the drafting of terms of reference, tender documents and contracts;
  • Coordinates regularly with the ConstitutionNet technical team to ensure clear organization and functioning of the site;
  • Carries out other related duties as assigned by the Senior Project Manager. 

General Profile

  • Requires good knowledge, excellent skills and initial experience in their field;
  • Will contribute to assigned projects in different aspects of the project life cycle, more specifically will conduct research and analysis, will draft various documents (articles, concept notes, agreements, etc.) and will support the projects vis-à-vis all internal and external stakeholders;
  • Adds value to team-based activities in his/her unit; collaborates with other entities of the Institute as required;
  • Can be expected to travel globally to any geographical area involved in his/her projects;
  • Follows internal procedures to ensure high standards of performance and compliance with Institutional guidelines;
  • Integrates a gender and diversity perspective in all activities. 

Reporting Line

  • Senior Project Manager

Programmatic Knowledge

  • Has good knowledge in own discipline and some understanding of related disciplines to be able to approach programmatic issues in a holistic manner.

Operational Knowledge, skills and experience

  • Integrates a results-based approach into the design , management and evaluation of all his/her programmatic activities;
  • Has a good understanding of the key geographical zone where his/her work is implemented – which may imply field/international experience at some point;
  • Contributes to the research of information on donors and partners, and all other activities related to resource mobilization and partnership building;
  • Illustrates integrity, a collaborative spirit, a sense of achievement, and an understanding of risk management.

Leadership

  • No direct people management responsibility.

Problem Solving

  • Is able to solve problems of varying degrees of complexity; approaches issues with new perspectives; analyses situations from a multitude of intervening factors.

Impact

  • Has an impact on the programme development and delivery.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills

  • Liaises regularly with all internal and external stakeholders involved in his/her projects;
  • Acts in all assignments with personal energy and engagement.
  • excellent written and oral English;
  • fluency in written Arabic, Spanish or French would be an asset.

Education andExperience

  • Master´s degree (or equivalent) in Political Science, Constitutional Law or relevant subject;
  • Around 3 years of experience working within the field of democracy support or governance, preferably in the area of constitution building , including substantial internship(s);
  • Work experience in professional handling of research tasks
  • Work experience in coordinating a diverse network or team of consultants
  • Editorial experience is an asset
  • Interest in working with social media and digital marketing is necessary
  • Field experience is desirable.

Terms of Contract

Local Post. Fixed term appointment until 31 December 2018. Salary entry point is NET EUR 2 800 per month.

Please note as this is a local post, International IDEA will bear no costs relating to relocation of the selected candidate to the duty station. This position is open to those legally authorized to live and work in the Netherlands.

Deadline for applications:

Applications should be submitted no later than 13 October 2015. Please note that all applications must be made in English.

International IDEA is an equal opportunity employer which seeks to further diversify its staff in terms of gender, culture and nationality.

Send application